Hell of a Show Ch. 50 (DxD AU/Multi) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Gabriel reports in to Michael.

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“Gabriel… what happened down there?”

“Michael, I…”

Gabriel hesitates for a moment. She had not reported to her brother immediately in the wake of her failure to secure Kai’Sa. But to be fair, it was still only the next morning, less than twenty-four hours after her disastrous attempt. She had simply needed some time to… process where things had gone wrong.

Unfortunately, Michael had summoned her to him this morning all the same, forcing Gabriel to attend him before she was truly ready. No doubt the Underworld had filed a complaint of some kind based on her ‘trespass’. Not that Gabriel thought Michael would ever side with the devils over her… he merely needed to know what was going on so he could support her better.

It’s knowing that which allows Gabriel to just tell her brother the truth. Michael will have her back. He always has.

“I managed to track down Kai’Sa… but by that point it was too late. She was already in the clutches of the Underworld.”

Michael frowns.

“She’d been reincarnated?”

But Gabriel shakes her head.

“No… not yet. But she was in the company of a reincarnated devil… in fact, every member of the popular K-Pop Group known as Huntrix has been reincarnated into devils.”

Michael’s eyes widen at that.

“What? But their group had a treaty with the Underworld last I recalled. They were to be left alone.”

Gabriel just shrugs.

“I cannot speak to how it came about, only that Mira managed to help Kai’Sa flee from me. I was not trying to apprehend or detain either of them anyways to be clear… which is why I decided to pursue them both to the top of Huntrix Tower, in order to better explain myself.”

… Alright, so maybe she hadn’t technically tried to explain herself until after the threat of battle with Grayfia Lucifuge had stopped her in her tracks. What would Gabriel have done if another Ultimate Class Being had not been present? Perhaps that’s something she needs to think about some more in the coming days…

For now though, she just continues her story.

“I was stymied by a ghost from the past… Grayfia Lucifuge in a maid uniform, serving the Lord of the supposedly defunct Valefor Clan.”

Michael’s eyes widen for a moment at that before narrowing again.

“… Continue.”

Gabriel sighs.

“We spoke for a bit, with me trying to convince Kai’Sa to come with me willingly. Unfortunately, before I could make any real headway… Lucrezah Lucifer showed up.”

To her mild surprise and confusion, Michael doesn’t seem shocked by this. In fact, he nods along with her before gesturing for her to continue? Blinking, Gabriel does so.

“In the end, after a rather tense standoff between Grayfia Lucifuge and Lucrezah Lucifer ended with them coming to terms and choosing to stand together against me, I made my retreat, recognizing that there was nothing more to be done even if Kai’Sa had been willing to come with me.”

Left unspoken is the obvious fact that she hadn’t wanted to go with Gabriel, of course. They’d really messed up when it came to that young woman. Gabriel could only hope that Kai’Sa’s Sacred Gear would remain dormant for some time to come, but she wasn’t holding her breath on that front.

Meanwhile, Michael is quiet for a long moment, seemingly processing Gabriel’s words. Finally though, he nods decisively.

“You made the right choice, Gabriel. Kai’Sa, her bandmates, even Huntrix… they are all lost to us, unfortunately.”

Gabriel furrows her brow. Michael was just… giving up? That was unlike him.

“Surely if Kai’Sa has not been reincarnated yet we might still have a chance, right? Should we really be leaving her in the hands of the Underworld without trying anything else?”

But Michael just shakes his head.

“No, Gabriel. Keep your distance… that’s an order if it needs to be.”

Gabriel’s eyes widen, both at the potential order and the seriousness on display. Seeing her reaction, Michael sighs… and tells her everything that had happened just after her departure from Huntrix Tower the night before.

Gabriel’s already wide eyes damn near bulge out of her skull as she hears him tell of the four-way assault on the tower. How the hell had she not noticed any of that about to happen? It sounded like she’d missed it by mere minutes.

Except… well, she can actually explain exactly why she hadn’t noticed anything was amiss. She’d been too caught up in her own thoughts, her own inadequacies, and her own failures. As Gabriel had departed from Huntrix Tower, she’d been replaying every second of her interactions in her head, trying to figure out what she might have been doing differently.

… And in doing so, she had missed the four groups that were all mere moments away from trying to kill or capture the members of K/DA.

“Gabriel, you cannot blame yourself for what happened.”

Gabriel looks to see Michael gazing at her in concern. Letting out a little half-scoff, half-laugh, she shakes her head.

“Can’t I, Michael?”

Frowning, Michael shakes his head right back.

“If you had been involved in what occurred last night, things would be much worse. As it stands, the Lucifer went fully off the rails and caused a political clusterfuck that the Leviathan will be untangling for months to come.”

Gabriel chokes at Michael’s use of such… colorful language. She can count the number of times she’s heard her brother curse in the whole of their shared existence on one hand, after all.

“The only reason that the Underworld will probably come out the other side of this without a full blown war being declared by any of the other factions is because the groups involved in last night’s attack are too small to matter. And the Underworld has the pretense of ‘defending themselves’ to fall back on, despite the Lucifer’s immense overreach. However, if you had still been there, if you had taken any kind of action… I don’t know where we would be right now.”

That… was a good point. Ultimately, if Gabriel had sided against Lucrezah and used the attack to abscond with Kai’Sa or something, it might literally have reignited the Great War. On the other hand, if she had sided with Lucrezah, as she privately thinks she might have, in order to keep Kai’Sa and her friends alive and free… well, that would have been even more complicated.

An Archangel and a Great Satan teaming up, no matter the reason, was a powder keg just waiting to happen. It would have forced the other powerful factions of the world to sit up and take notice… and might have even led to hostilities as the very idea of the Underworld and Heaven working together would have lit a fire under numerous asses.

Put bluntly, as much as Gabriel hated to admit it, it was probably for the best that she’d missed the attack by mere minutes. She still can’t quite believe she did miss it though. It was utterly ridiculous. Of course, they couldn’t remain focused on what could have happened forever, so Gabriel straightens up as Michael directs their conversation elsewhere.

“Back to what you were saying before… the Valefor Clan has a Lord? And Grayfia Lucifuge is serving him… as a maid?”

Gabriel inclines her head.

“Indeed. It would seem that Pillar House has been resurrected.”

It was far from good news, obviously. One of the only reasons that Heaven had been able to make do since the Great War despite all of their losses was that the Underworld had suffered similar losses… and then after the Great War was over, they’d gone ahead and had their own Civil War that had resulted in even more deaths.

By the time the dust was settled and the New Satan Faction had emerged triumphant, dozens of the Seventy-Two Pillars had been rendered extinct. To this day, Heaven did not have a full accounting of just who remained, because of course the Underworld did the best they could to hide such information.

However, they knew enough to believe that without the Evil Pieces system developed by the Beelzebub, it was likely that the Underworld would be in just as dire, if not more dire straits than Heaven itself by now. And Heaven, as much as Gabriel hated to admit it, was in very dire straits indeed.

“And the new Lord Valefor is powerful enough to have an Ultimate Class Being as his maid? Is he a Super Devil on the same level as the Lucifer and Beelzebub, do you think?”

Gabriel blinks, pulled out of her thoughts by Michael’s concern. Ah, she understands why he would be worried… but the truth was definitely stranger.

“No, actually. He’s really only of middling strength… in the upper High Class at most. I cannot say why Grayfia Lucifuge chooses to follow him or why she was wearing a maid uniform and calling him Master. We both know the depravity of devils knows no bounds, however.”

Michael grimaces and nods in acknowledgment at that. It was true after all. It was entirely possible that Grayfia was… sexually gratified by serving someone far weaker than her as their maid. After all, it was a fetish in both the Underworld and on Earth from what Gabriel knew.

Thinking about the Valefor Lord some more, Gabriel has to shake her head again, more to clear her thoughts than anything else. After all, it was… well, it was all so strange, wasn’t it? Information about the Satan Lucifer’s guilt had certainly leaked out of the Underworld over the centuries. Everyone knew that Lucrezah hunted for Grayfia for some reason or another, though the exact specifics had been difficult to pin down, at least for those in Heaven.

But now Gabriel knew the truth. Lucrezah Lucifer thought she had killed the Valefor Lord five hundred years ago. She’d actually thought he was his own son for a moment, but that had been debunked. Somehow Lord Valefor had survived the Power of Destruction, albeit with it taking five hundred years if Grayfia was to be believed.

One of the stranger bits though… was his name.

“Michael… the new Lord of the Valefor Clan… his name is Amadeus.”

Michael jerks at that, shooting her a confused frown.

“What?”

His disbelief is as understandable as it is palpable to be fair. Amadeus. It was a biblical name. It was a heavenly name. It meant ‘Loved by God’. It was the name of one of their brothers who had died during the Great War, and it was also the name of an extremely famous human musician from about three centuries ago. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

And yet… Amadeus Valefor was just over five hundred years old. So why would a devil five centuries ago be named ‘Loved by God’ of all things?

“… They mock us.”

Michael’s conclusion is not necessarily a bad one, and yet Gabriel can’t deny that it feels… wrong in some way. She frowns and furrows her brow.

“I’m not entirely sure that’s it, brother. There was something about him.”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

“I can’t… I can’t quite explain it, but there was something strange… something… familiar.”

Truth be told, Gabriel hadn’t wanted to say that last part. She’d been beating around the bush a little bit because she’d known exactly how Michael would react if she’d said anything. And indeed, it’s just as she anticipated. He jolts in alarm, his eyes widening in concern.

“Familiar? Gabriel, he is a devil. There should be nothing familiar about their ilk. Not to one of us.”

Obviously, Gabriel knows that. Of course she knows that. That’s why she’d been so reluctant to say it! And yet… and yet…

“Need I remind you of the dangers of that particular clan, Gabriel? This isn’t just another of the Pillar Houses we’re talking about here. The Valefor Clan remain among the only devils to ever step foot… in Heaven itself.”

Gabriel shivers, nodding in remembrance. Indeed, how could she forget? Centuries ago a Valefor had made it all the way to the Fifth Heaven and managed to enter the Heavenly Vault itself. To be fair, it was after God’s death… if he had still lived, there’s no way a devil thief would have actually managed to make it that far into His Domain.

Unfortunately, their Father was gone and Michael had still been finding his footing when the incident happened. The Valefor Devil had made it into the Heavenly Vault and made off with several treasures that were still missing to this day.

“Even among devils, the Valefor Clan is dangerous Gabriel. And this Amadeus Valefor… even his name represents his thieving lineage. Whatever familiarity you think you feel from him… it isn’t real. It’s a trick.”

Gabriel… isn’t sure if she agrees with her brother on that. She holds her tongue all the same, but she just… can’t quite reconcile the idea of it being a trick with how everything had happened. Indeed, there had been no cajoling or attempts at seduction on Amadeus Valefor’s part. He wasn’t trying to corrupt her or make her Fall. He had been rightfully wary of her and worried about what she might do, but he hadn’t gone out of his way to try and subvert her… at least not on purpose.

And yet… and yet, she can’t quite get him out of her head. Even as she makes noises of general agreement and her and Michael finish up their meeting, Gabriel can’t stop thinking about Amadeus Valefor.

… She should stay away. Michael hadn’t ordered it, but he’d been ready to order it if necessary. Perhaps Gabriel should go back and tell him to make it an order. Otherwise… she fears she might do something unwise.

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12cGFl3xlMZIrFNNGkJCidJlwgXx7fWu4AoeHggyiUcM/edit?tab=t.0